Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Radio Show

        I managed to listen to a few episodes of the radio show, and the only words I can use to describe my impression of it is… intelligently absurd. If that even makes sense. In a similar way, the radio show is filled with things that don’t make sense, yet they do. It’s a very odd story which, admittedly, took some getting used to. Previously, I was not familiar at all with the Hitchhikers's Guide to the Galaxy in any way. I found myself pausing and going back to re-listen to it to fully grasp what was going on; yet, the more I listened to it, the less I needed to do that as I had gotten used to the absurdities. 

The story uses humorous situations and commentary to present the unpredictability and frequent absurdities of life. Throughout the novel, things seem to happen randomly, without cause or meaning. Some are highly improbable, while others simply stand reason on its head. These shifts in point of view often take the seemingly normal and show it in a new, thought-provoking light, which makes it not so “random” after all. An example of this would be the small yellow fish that serves as a translator and is used as a metaphor by some to spark debate revolving God’s existence. The absurdity is also used to spoof the general silliness of society, like the bureaucratic nightmare of Arthur finding that the demolition plans were "on display" in the unlit cellar of the local planning office, at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet, in an unused lavatory hung with a sign warning "Beware of the Leopard." The novel also takes aim at politics, using Zaphod to highlight the absurdity of political systems. Basically, he is incompetent and wields no power whatsoever. His job is to draw attention away from whoever is really running things.

I found the narrator to be very comedic with his observations on humanity as well. My favorite being when he mentioned that people are unhappy and “more concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper” than they should be. His line of “one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change,” (clearly alluding to Jesus) had me laughing out loud as well. Overall, I feel like the story is filled with a lot of social commentary that is still relevant today and presents it with a humorous sci-fi adventure.